J.R.R Tolkien once said, “There is indeed no better medium for moral teaching than the good fairy story” (73). Often when fairy stories are mentioned, people think of gallant knights fighting an evil beast. Knights such as Geoffrey Chaucer’s knight in Canterbury Tales or even the nonfictional Richard the Lion Heart are exemplify knights. Determining the definition of ideal, however, determines whether or not a knight is ideal. Ideal in its simplest form means “a standard of excellence.” Many knights, fiction and nonfiction, fit this description; however, one knight in particular lives up to the description. Sir Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight exemplifies the ideal knight. Sir Gawain exemplifies the ideal knight because he demonstrates courage. First, he demonstrates courage before he departs from the castle. Sir Gawain’s courage first reveals itself when Sir Gawain offers himself up to challenge the Green Knight in King Arthur’s place and says, “’I beseech, before all here, / That this melee may be mine’” (lines 341-42).When Sir Gawain departs from King Arthur’s court, he is faced with difficult circumstances—circumstances that would have caused the average person to turn back. From the very beginning of his travelling, Sir Gawain, according to the poet, had no one to travel with but his horse, and the only one “to say his mind to” was God (693-96). The poet delineates all the foes that Sir Gawain fought: “serpents,” “savage wolves,” “wild men of the woods,” “bulls,” “bears,” “boars,” and “giants” (720-23). Sir Gawain also demonstrates courage when “The lord [Bercilak] with all his might / entreats his guest [Sir Gawain] to stay” (1041-42). Bercilak pleads numerous times with Sir Gawain to stay, and each time Sir Gawain has opportunity to succumb to the temptation to forget his debut with the Knight. Instead he says, “’I must set forth to search, as soon as I may; / To be about my business I have but three days / And would as soon sink down dead as...

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The theme of games plays a very important role in SirGawain and the Green Knight. In fact, much of the action that takes place in this story revolves around the playing of various “games.” When one thinks of the word “games,” there are several thoughts that may come to mind. Sports, board games, and card games are all types of games that society today might be familiar with. The author of SirGawain and the Green Knight uses different kinds of games than the ones mentioned above. In the time of Sir Arthur and his court, the word “game” wasn’t as strongly associated with something pleasurable as it was meant to test one’s worthiness. When the Green Knight enters Arthur’s court and announces that he has come to ask “ a Christmas game,” he has not come to play cards or scrabble, but instead has come to test the worthiness of someone in the court. “The "game" of exchanging gifts was very common in Germanic culture. If a man received a gift, he was obliged to provide the giver with a better gift or risk losing his honor, almost like an exchange of blows in a fight, or in a "beheading game" (Harwood). Many other games are involved in the plot of SirGawain and the Green Knight. Throughout the third section of the poem for...

...SirGawain and the Green Knight
The Ideal Medieval Knight
In Medieval times, much was expected of the knights that served the courts. Most importantly was that each knight was pledged to a strict code of chivalry. “SirGawain and the Green Knight” is the ideal of a medieval knight. SirGawain directly exhibits the traits of knighthood and chivalry by practicing loyalty, strength and ability, and honesty throughout the story.
At the beginning of the story, the Green Knight charges into King Arthur’s court and demands a Christmas game. The Green Knight challenges “If any in this house such hardihood claims,/Be so bold in his blood, his brain so wild/As stoutly to strike one stroke for another,”[285-287] The exchange to be carried out a year and a day later at the Green Chapel. Out of loyalty to his liege, SirGawain volunteers to take King Arthur’s place in the contest, “…And for this folly befits not a king,/And 'tis I that have asked it, it ought to be mine,”[358-359].
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...SirGawain and the Green Knight
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...SirGawain and the Green Knight is a Middle English romance poem written by
an anonymous West Midlands poet also credited with a lot of other poems written during
that time. The protagonist, SirGawain, survives two tests: a challenge, which he alone
without the assistance of King Arthur's knights accepts, to behead the fearsome Green
Knight and to let him retaliate a year later at the distant Green Chapel; and the temptation
to commit adultery with the wife of Lord Bercilak--in reality the Green Knight--in whose
castle he stays in en route to the chapel. This story is emblematic of life; how it issues
tests and challenges and the consequences rendered as a result of failing or succeeding
these challenges.
SirGawain is a very symbolic character; symbolic in the sense that he represents
innocence in life. He was not afraid to accept a challenge because it meant saving the
kingdom from the affects of anarchy as a result of not having a king. SirGawain
accepting the challenge from the Green Knight instantly represented one of the things
that knighthood represented, fearlessness. People accept those kind of challenges
everyday. This could possibly be where the term 'sticking your neck out' could have
come from. When people accept challenges, most do not want to accept the...

...Women, Courtly Love and the Creation Myth in SirGawain and the Green Knight
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...SirGawain and the Green Knight
"SirGawain and the Green Knight" is a medieval romance poem written by an anonymous author. It was written in a dialect from Northern England. The poem uses alliteration similar to the Anglo-Saxon form of poetry. SirGawain is one of the major characters in the poem. SirGawain represents an idealknight of the fourteenth century. Throughout the story, we see SirGawain portrayed as a very courteous and noble knight, always trying to help King Arthur. The poem SirGawain and the Green Knight tells the tale of one of King Arthur’s bravest and noblest knights, SirGawain. The author spins this magical tale of heroism and adventure over the course of one year. During this year, the hero SirGawain undergoes a serious alteration of character. When the Green Knight enters King Arthur’s court, he sets Sir Gawain’s destiny in motion. Change, especially spiritual transformation, is a common thread running through the poem. In addition, is the case with almost every example of romantic poems and certainly every story concerning King Arthur and the other knights, the characters carefully...

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...Knowledge
“Every beginning comes from some other beginning’s end” (Closing time by Semisonic). In The Confessions by St. Augustine and SirGawain and the Green Knight translated by W.S. Merwin, St. Augustine and SirGawain embark on journeys to find the best way to live their lives and then begin a new journey of spreading the lessons they learned and the people they have become to the people around them. AlthoughsirGawain knows he is on a journey to the Green Chapel, he does not realize that it will lead to him testing his virtues as well as making him a better knight. Similarly, St. Augustine does not realize that all along he was meant to become exactly what his mother urged and hoped he would become. If he had listened to his mother and followed God in the first place, he may not have been as strong of a leader and certainly would not have been as influential of a person as he is known for. The lessons they learn are ones that ultimately change their outlooks and persuade them to better their lives.
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